On the origin of species;The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, 6th Edition by Charles Darwinpage 2 of 685 (00%)

the existing forms of life are the descendants by true generation of preexisting forms. Passing over allusions to the subject in the classicalwriters (Aristotle, in his "Physicae Auscultationes" (lib.2, cap.8, s.2),after remarking that rain does not fall in order to make the corn grow, anymore than it falls to spoil the farmer's corn when threshed out of doors,applies the same argument to organisation; and adds (as translated by Mr.Clair Grece, who first pointed out the passage to me), "So what hinders thedifferent parts (of the body) from having this merely accidental relationin nature? as the teeth, for example, grow by necessity, the front onessharp, adapted for dividing, and the grinders flat, and serviceable formasticating the food; since they were not made for the sake of this, but itwas the result of accident. And in like manner as to other parts in whichthere appears to exist an adaptation to an end. Wheresoever, therefore,all things together (that is all the parts of one whole) happened like asif they were made for the sake of something, these were preserved, havingbeen appropriately constituted by an internal spontaneity; and whatsoeverthings were not thus constituted, perished and still perish." We here seethe principle of natural selection shadowed forth, but how little Aristotlefully comprehended the principle, is shown by his remarks on the formationof the teeth.), the first author who in modern times has treated it in ascientific spirit was Buffon. But as his opinions fluctuated greatly atdifferent periods, and as he does not enter on the causes or means of thetransformation of species, I need not here enter on details.

Lamarck was the first man whose conclusions on the subject excited muchattention. This justly celebrated naturalist first published his views in1801; he much enlarged them in 1809 in his "Philosophie Zoologique", andsubsequently, 1815, in the Introduction to his "Hist. Nat. des Animaux sansVertebres". In these works he up holds the doctrine that all species,including man, are descended from other species. He first did the eminent